N.M. police chief, mayor, trustee caught in federal sweep

LAS CRUCES - Luna County officials have confirmed the arrest of Columbus Police Chief Angelo Vega, Mayor Eddie Espinoza, and trustee Blas Gutierrez as part of an overnight roundup by federal agents.
Sherrif Raymond Cobos and Capt. Arturo Baeza of the Luna County Sheriff's Office confirmed the arrests to the Deming Headlight Thursday morning.

According to the officers the raid was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation following an investigation of federal firearms and drug trafficking allegations.

A sealed federal indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office is expected to be released this afternoon.

Federal and local law enforcement conducted the sweep in Las Cruces, Chaparral and Columbus beginning just after midnight.

In El Paso, U.S. authorities indicted 35 alleged leaders, members and associates of the Barrio Azteca gang on Wednesday, including 10 men charged in connection with the killing of three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in Juárez last year. The FBI-led a multi-agency strike against the binational gang and arrested 12 people during raids Wednesday morning in El Paso and southern New Mexico.

Officers are still in the field finishing up today's New Mexico operation, according to sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the details of the operation or the suspects they might have picked up.

The indictment from a federal grand jury held several days ago is expected to be unsealed today. Until then, the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is heading up the release of information on this morning's raids, has not been authorized to confirm any of the information about the alleged crimes and the people now in custody.

"I don't have any public-record information at this time," said Elizabeth Martinez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico. Martinez said more information would be made available later today.

You cannot dedicate yourself to America unless you become in every
respect and with every purpose of your will thoroughly Americans. You
cannot become thoroughly Americans if you think of yourselves in groups. President Woodrow Wilson

Federal officials today arrested the Columbus mayor, police chief, a city trustee and his wife on charges of firearms and drug trafficking.

Mayor Eddie Espinoza, Police Chief Angelo Vega, Trustee Blas Gutierrez and Gutierrez' wife, Gabby, were taken into custody early Thursday by agents of Drug Enforcement Administration, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Marshal's Service.

As many as 11 people reportedly were arrested under a sealed federal indictment. It was not immediately known where the prisoners were being held. Federal officials reportedly remained in the village at mid-day Thursday. One Columbus resident, asking to remain anonymous, said several houses had been surrounded by federal agents.

Vega, the chief since April 2009, is the seventh police chief under Espinoza, who is now in his second term. Vega was put on administrative leave last November, with a since-fired village treasurer, for what Espinoza called "budgetary concerns." Vega was reinstated by the Board of Trustees in January.

Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos, who said he was briefed at about 7 a.m., Thursday, and some of his staff were meeting that morning with other village officials, including Mayor Pro Tem Roberto Gutierrez, who is Blas Gutierrez' son.
Cobos said he would recommend a long-term agreement with the county to provide law enforcement coverage for Columbus. The county has done that in the past when the village had no police department, coordinating with the New Mexico State Police to provide service.

The LCSO has 33 commissioned or sworn personnel, from deputies through detectives and lieutenants. Cobos has directed a schedule be drawn that allows at least one deputy in the Columbus area on each of the department's shifts, so 24-hour coverage is provided.

"I want to reassure the citizens of Luna County," Cobos said, "Columbus will have law enforcement."

The Columbus PD has officers Robert Valenzuela and Derek Smith.

Vega, appointed in April 2009 by Espinoza and confirmed in May by the Trustees, came to Columbus with baggage.

He was indicted in 1996, while a Lincoln County Deputy Sheriff, on two counts of extortion and two counts of intimidating a witness. A plea agreement reduced the charge to a misdemeanor.

"There was a narcotics investigation, a couple of politicians who took the situation to extremes, and we let justice take care of it," Vega said appointed in Columbus, "after which I continued my law enforcement career. I was attacked politically. It was investigated by the (state) attorney general's office."

Vega was Marshal of Mesilla Park before a January 2009 resignation as he and Mayor Michael Cadena clashed when Cadena sought to replace him.